Tuesday, December 1, 2009

How Firm a Foundation

I have learned a lot of things this week. There were a lot of learning curves thrown at me this week. It is so funny how the Lord works in our lives, especially in the missionary life where relying on the Lord is a must. I have noticed that in this arena, the missionary arena, we have to look for the Lord’s hands in our lives or we might mistake some of the most beautiful moments for something less brilliant. I really love going through the day and seeing the tender mercies of the Lord. And one thing I have learned is that the Lord is soooooooooo good. He is so smart. I mean, some of the things He does to get everything done is so cool. I just have to be in the right place at the right time. So, here are some of my special experiences…On Saturday we went “fierce Finding” with our ward. The turn-out wasn’t that great, but there were some very evident miracles. The first person we talked to was a young man from Guatemala on a bike. We have gotten really good at handing pass-along cards out while someone is riding on their bikes around us. We tried out our new found skill on this young man. He stopped and asked us to pray for him and he seemed really interested. It was cool, so we set up a time we could meet the following day.

Then, on Sunday, we get a call from this same young man, saying that he wants to come to church; could we get him a ride? We hurriedly found someone and he and his brother came. His brother had been severely electrocuted a year ago, just getting out of the hospital two weeks ago. Because they are illegal, they did not get any compensation for his accident. This poor man and his brother. They asked for a blessing. President, the Spirit was so strong. When the blessing was over I dared not open my eyes because I just knew that this man was going to be whole. The faith of those two men, and the Spirit in that room, I was fortunate to be there. We went to the appointment we had set up on Saturday. We taught a quick lesson and then said a prayer. Once again the Spirit just overwhelmed me. I knew, and I know now that this young man, Jeranimo, is a very special son of God, and that He is mindful of this little Guatemalan man. That our meeting was not an accident or merely chance, but a large tender mercy. The Lord is aware of us. He knows us. He loves us, and he cries when we cry, and Smiles when we smile, and is soooooo good to us. I am grateful for this opportunity to share this message with everyone I meet, even those who pass by on their bikes.

And dear Family, we are seeing miracles here. We have been working so hard and yet we run into these giant brick walls and I get so frustrated. What am I doing wrong? What is my problem? Things like that that Satan puts in our mind to keep us down. But, the Lord showed me that our efforts were not in vain. The work is moving forward, I just can’t see it all the time. Yesterday, the North area (both companionships of sisters. Ok explanation—the area I am in now is a temporary area. Next transfer we are dissolving one of our areas and making it into one solid area. That means that this transfer we are supposed to work really hard and get things done so that next transfer it will just BOOOOOM) Ok, back to our regularly scheduled program. Yesterday we had a total of 11 investigators at Sacrament Meeting (the poor elders only had two between the two companionships). And we have a few more solid families that didn’t have enough time to prepare for this Sunday, but have promised us the following Sunday. We’ll see. We have a lot of dates coming up in December. Oh man, Hollywood is going to have a white Christmas full of baptisms. Our goal is 13 on the 13th. I just know it is possible, we just have to work hard. And whoever inherits this area, the two North sisters’ areas here, is going to be one lucky companionship. Is it going to be me? I don’t know. Whatever happens is cool, I just hope that whoever is here knows how lucky they really are to be getting some of the choicest associates out there.

Anyway, have a great week,

Hna Barros

PS—had a Cuban and Mexican Thanksgiving. I got to eat Mexican hot-dogs, yes, for Thanksgiving. And the Cubans, what funny people, had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, Cuban rice and beans (which are to die for) Cuban sweet potatoes, which are a lot like yucca—very starchy and not so sweet, but pretty tasty, and then Flan with chocolate ice-cream. So funny and fun. I’ll send pictures sometime. I need a cool little usb adapter that I can put my memory card into so I can directly upload and then send my pictures to you with. Christmas maybe?